Swedish talent - Irene Ekelund

[az2004]

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/sweden/ire ... rogression

i have her 60mh at 8.54 in 2012 at age 14

http://www.goteborg2013.com/competition/events/

is she eligible for euro indoors

[fasttrack85]

You appreciate all this even more when you think she is a part time athlete(obviously has to be in school) in a cold country.Every race she runs she is dropping pb's. Hopefully this trend doesn't end anytime soon. Right now she is actually steps ahead of Allyson Felix and Marion Jones when you line up their yearly progressions.

I wonder if she will go pro after high school? Or will she do the NCAA thing?

[az2004]

isn't kluft the model for top tier swedish girls, what did kluft do??

[jla]

You appreciate all this even more when you think she is a part time athlete(obviously has to be in school) in a cold country.
I wonder if she will go pro after high school? Or will she do the NCAA thing?

There is no such thing as "going pro" in Swedish athletics which is based solely on clubs. I.e. you study in school or at university and in your free time you do sports in a club. There are no sports scholarships from colleges or universities for the simple reason that all education is free.
Of course most athletes go to university but they still compete for the club and never for the university. If you are a good athlete you can of course get some economic support from the club and earn some prize and sponsor money.
But there is no formal distinction between amateurs and pros - there are simply athletes, a few of them full-time but the majority part-time.
As for Irene she still has three more years in high school before she needs to worry about making any decision whether she wants to pursue some higher education.
Concerning her sprinting career she still has a very relaxed attitude with no specific goals. She is not the kind of person talking about winning the Olympics in the future. She is just taking everything in stride as it happens.
When recently asked about her ambitions for the future she didn't even mention the World Youth Championships this summer, probably because she isn't the kind of person making such long term plans. She is just a typical 15 years old enjoying what she is doing at the moment.
So currently the only specific plan is that she will run the Swedish Youth Championships the second weekend of March. As for the summer that is something she is not worrying the least about yet.

[norunner]

Right now she is actually steps ahead of Allyson Felix and Marion Jones when you line up their yearly progressions.

Not true for Marion Jones. Jones ran an outdoor 22.76 in 91 four months before her 16th birthday.

[doug5321]

Right now she is actually steps ahead of Allyson Felix and Marion Jones when you line up their yearly progressions.

Not true for Marion Jones. Jones ran an outdoor 22.76 in 91 four months before her 16th birthday.

and marion jones does not really count because she cheated.

[26mi235]

Right now she is actually steps ahead of Allyson Felix and Marion Jones when you line up their yearly progressions.

Not true for Marion Jones. Jones ran an outdoor 22.76 in 91 four months before her 16th birthday.

and marion jones does not really count because she cheated.

And she was cheating in 9th grade?

[doug5321]

probably they had a study over a decade ago in USA today saying about 600 thousand middle school kids have used steroids, most dont even play sports.

on a show about HIGH SCHOOL football in texas, some parents redshirt kids a year or 2 to give them a better chance at a scholarship even when the kid is a straight A student, some even use steroids.

athletes change schools even move to other states in HIGH SCHOOL and it has nothing to do with the parents job, the only reason is so they can be in a better program, have a better coach etc.

i think if someone cheats they probably always have, if you can do it without cheating, why even consider cheating?

yes i believe cheating goes on in high school and even before that.

[FrankieB]

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/sweden/irene-ekelund#progression

i have her 60mh at 8.54 in 2012 at age 14

http://www.goteborg2013.com/competition/events/

is she eligible for euro indoors

Irene and her coach has decided to skip euro indoors because they feel they will take it slowly and not push her to hard. Also she considers 200m her best distance at the moment and that is not on the program in euro indoors.

[aaronk]

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/sweden/irene-ekelund#progression

i have her 60mh at 8.54 in 2012 at age 14

http://www.goteborg2013.com/competition/events/

is she eligible for euro indoors

Trinity Wilson set the indoor HS frosh class record of 8.44 when she was approximately 14 yrs and 9 or 10 mos old!!
She was born April 9 of 1994, and she set the record sometime during the 2009 indoor season!!

[az2004]

8.54 is a good hurdle time

23.15 is an exceptional 200 time


nice to see her coach wants to take it slow and not push too hard

i would hope world youth fits into her schedule

after all, the 7.32 against elite world class women was impressive

i do recollect marion jones doing 1992 olympic trials in new orleans

[Elival]

Wonder what distance will be her best in the future!? She ran 38.96 the year she became 14 years old, which is a world best. Monica Marin (born 18 Jun 1976) ran 38.74i (on 3 Mar 1991) and was still 14 years old but turned 15 a few months later that year.

[Elival]

Some early videos:

From DN-Galan Youth 2010, 60 meter hurdles qualification, fastforward to 17:45 and you will see Irene Ekelund. She won in 9.54. This was the first time I saw/heard about her as I saw it live back then.
http://www.headweb.com/sv/220236/dn-gal ... 1030-1130/

60 meter hurdles finals from the same competition, fastforward to 6:15. She won in 9.44.
http://www.headweb.com/sv/220278/dn-gal ... 1330-1430/

DN-Galan Youth 2011, 80 meter hurdles qualfication, fastforward to 52:10. She won in 11.86.
posting.php?mode=reply&f=1&t=43050
Finals at 3:21:00 in the same video. She won in 11.74.

DN-Galan Youth 2012, 300 meter, fastforward to 7:38:50. She won in 38.91.
http://www.headweb.com/sv/350322/dn-gal ... FF539.web3

[az2004]

thanks for these videos, i will check them out tomorrow as i have been watching the pa state indoor meet since 10am and meed to eat dinner now

[az2004]

the video for 2012 dn galan at 7:40:00 has the 300, she runs away with it

i will try the other 2 now

http://www.headweb.com/sv/350322/dn-gal ... FF539.web3

[az2004]

http://www.headweb.com/sv/220278/dn-gal ... 1330-1430/

the 9.44 over 60meter hurdles. should be at the rihght time. just bck up to stRT of race

[az2004]

and 2010 dn galan at 19:00 60 hurdles

http://www.headweb.com/sv/220236/dn-gal ... 1030-1130/

thanks for the 3 races

[Elival]

Your welcome

[FrankieB]

This weekend she ran in the swedish youth indoor championships.

She won the 60m on 7,42, she ran quicker in the qualis on 7,36.

She also won the longjump on 5,67.

[Blues]

Although the venues are different, had Irene Ekelund been able to duplicate her times from a few weeks ago in Europe on the Armory track and been able to compete in the US New Balance Indoor National Championships, her 7.32 and 23.15 would have won both events by .08 sec and .33 sec respectively. That's even more impressive when you consider that Irene just turned 16 two days ago.

[FrankieB]

Irene today made her first race outdoor for the season, winning 10mm in 11,35.

[EPelle]

Ekelund's race (at the Stefan Holm Games) was won with a +1,7 mps and =NJR (Linda Haglund from 1975). Ekelund's PB dropped from 11,73 to 11,35.

[Elival]

I was expecting a fast time, but 11.35?? She just drop every time she perform, wonder what she will do at 200 meter tomorrow in Stockholm. I have a feeling she will go under 23 seconds, maybe threaten the Swedish record at 22.82!?

[Elival]

Just uploaded a video of the race here: http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=0wjmqwOojas&ns=1

[MDelano]

Thanks, but correct link for viewers is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wjmqwOojas

[Elival]

Thank you for the correct link MDelano

[FrankieB]

Irene today ran 200m in the time 23,24 but in 2,3sec wind so not eligible for swedish jr record.

I cant help wondering how serious she is about her running. They say she only trains 4 times a week and she has chosen to go to regular high school instead of one with Athletics as specialty.

[Master Po]

Well, for now, I just hope she continues this season's trend through the WYC. Her marks put her around the top of the world youth lists @ 100 & 200, the current leader on the IAAF list being Arianna Washington (USA; dob 4 September 1996), who has 11.39 & 23.18.

[EPelle]

She's been running since she was seven years old. No direct track goals in mind, just takes things as she feels. She has a goal of being a stylist and is something she wants to study parallel with her athletics, hence not desiring to pursue an athletics school.

The big key here is that she believes that there is so much else that's fun/cool outside of athletics.

She's likely to run the World Youth Championships. Whether she competes in Moscow as well remains to be seen. However, I don't think it'll be likely. You can follow her blog (på svenska) at: http://www.nattstad.se/irenemichelle

[MDelano]

Irene today ran 200m in the time 23,24 but in 2,3sec wind so not eligible for swedish jr record.

I cant help wondering how serious she is about her running. They say she only trains 4 times a week and she has chosen to go to regular high school instead of one with Athletics as specialty.

She's young and showing tremendous progression. Why on earth should she train more?
IMO this line of thinking is one of the main reasons why we often see young talent burn out so quickly.
Train as much as is necessary to progress, not as much as you can, aka Henk's rule, named after Henk Kraaijenhof, former coach of Nelli Cooman (WR 60m 7.00 1986) and Merlene Ottey..

[Krptsww]

The last 100 meters of todays 200 m can be seen here:

http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/1278123/eke ... -200-meter

[t_monk]

The last 100 meters of todays 200 m can be seen here:

http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/1278123/eke ... -200-meter

I like her but I see a lot of wasted motions in the arms. Lots of raw potential.